{"id":29250,"date":"2025-12-18T10:37:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?p=29250"},"modified":"2025-12-18T10:37:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:37:38","slug":"the-liddell-family-december-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/news\/the-liddell-family-december-update\/","title":{"rendered":"The Liddell Family | December Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cDo no call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past.\u00a0 Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0Isaiah 43:18-19a, 21<\/p>\n

During one of our prayer walks in Croatia last month, an old property jumped out at me.\u00a0 Like the spiritual strongholds we were praying against, this house had stood there for generations.\u00a0 It was in disrepair, yet still holding firm.\u00a0 And this is the verse that God brought to mind, with the prayer that this time, when religion is an identifier, not salvific, when God is a nebulous entity not Immanuel, that this time would be a vague memory.\u00a0 God is already doing something new. He has already formed a people for Himself, in Croatia and in your neighborhood.\u00a0 Will we not be aware of it?\u00a0 Will we not join Him?<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Stateside Busy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We continue to be so grateful for your prayers!\u00a0 Since our last update we: finished our training at MTI, visited friends around the midwest and southwest, shared at Argonia Friends Church in Kansas, had three weeks of most of us being \u201chome\u201d in San Diego, Jonelle flew to WA for a dear friend\u2019s memorial service, we had another friend visit us in San Diego.\u00a0 We started gathering documents for visas and did a lot of preparation for our November trip.\u00a0 In early November, Fred and Jonelle flew to Ohio for some EFM meetings and a commissioning at the annual missions banquet. Then we spent a few days in Salem, Ohio visiting Salem First Friends Church and spending time visiting some dear people from that congregation. The kids stayed with Fred\u2019s parents in San Diego.\u00a0 Being in the same place for more than a few weeks was a gift for them.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Prayer\/Planning Trip<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We flew from Ohio to Split, Croatia, joining up with several teammates on the way.\u00a0 Over the course of the next few days we met with: a representative from our language school, an immigration attorney, a realtor, and a local pastor.\u00a0 We found out that the visa path we had planned on would not work at all (it wouldn\u2019t let us bring our kids) and found another way that should be a really good fit for our first couple of years.\u00a0 We spend time getting a feel for the city and scouting out both what is available in local stores and how much things cost.\u00a0 We prayed around several neighborhoods in the vicinity of the language school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Then one more teammate joined us and we shifted gears to a prayer trip.\u00a0 We moved to Orebi\u0107, visited the closest church and renewed our acquaintance with the pastor.\u00a0 We prayed around the center of Orebi\u0107.\u00a0 Then half of our team went home, one person leaving early due to respiratory issues.\u00a0 The rest of us moved to Plo\u0107e, spend time praying around town there, and got a bit of rest.\u00a0 We visited friends across the border in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then moved south to Dubrovnik.\u00a0 Lunch with missionary friends there, a visit to the local Baptist church and renewed acquaintance with the leaders there, a respiratory bug in our remaining teammate, and a prayer walk in the Old City.\u00a0 Our last afternoon, as we were debriefing our prayer walk, I started to feel some back pain.\u00a0 It got worse, I ended up in the ER diagnosed with my first kidney stone.\u00a0 Thank God for our missionary friends, they helped us navigate the ER and the urologist the next morning and helped us get to the airport on time to make our flight.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Getting Ready to Move!<\/h2>\n

Since we got back, life has been a blur of doctor appointments and exams, two ER visits, time with the kids, continuing to get our visa documents in order, meetings.\u00a0 The first kidney stone has passed, but there are two more in my left kidney.\u00a0 While they were looking for the stones, they found that my liver was enlarged.\u00a0 Turns out there is also something there, as yet undiagnosed, that needs to be addressed.\u00a0 We also had a memorial service for Fred\u2019s uncle, who died while we were in Ohio.\u00a0 And got a brief visit with Fred\u2019s brother, who came home for the service.<\/p>\n

The current plan is to continue getting through doctor appointments, visa things, packing\/sorting, until the end of December.\u00a0 Then drive to Sequim, Washington.\u00a0 Fred will fly to the Philippines for his cousin\u2019s wedding (he\u2019s a groomsman) while Jonelle and the kids enjoy family time and work on packing there.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have one week all together, and a commissioning at our home church.\u00a0 We hope to fly to Split on January 23 and begin language school on February 23.<\/p>\n

As you can probably guess, these plans feel a bit hectic and uncertain.\u00a0 We are trusting that God is not surprised by these inconveniences and His timing is good.\u00a0 Please pray with us for continued peace in the process, for energy and focus to get all the things done, for clarity if\/when we need to adjust.\u00a0 Our hands remain open, our plans held loosely.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>The Kids<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Alex talks frequently about moving to Croatia.\u00a0 He continues to be our social butterfly, ready to talk to anyone and ask them all about themselves and their opinions on dinosaurs (Where do you live?\u00a0 Do you have kids?\u00a0 Do you like T rex or Ankylosaurus better?).\u00a0 Jael loves coloring, swings, and singing.\u00a0 Her current favorite game is bathing her toy animals in a tub on the back deckThey play trains and dinosaurs, family and cooking together and it\u2019s really adorable!\u00a0 Their theme song for this season is \u201cJesus Calms the Storm\u201d by the Gettys, followed closely by \u201cJesus, Strong and Kind.\u201d \u00a0They continue to love the book \u201cfound: Psalm 23\u201d by Sally Lloyd-Jones, and we\u2019ve added \u201cIt Will be Okay\u201d and \u201cHe Always Hears.\u201d \u00a0Reinforcing the lessons they learned at MTI, the things we\u2019ve been talking about in the car, with stories and songs has been helpful for all of us.\u00a0 If you also find yourself in a season of changes, of goodbyes, take a listen and feel His balm \u201cThere\u2019s a Rock where I can go, keeps me safe and this I know, deep within my troubled soul, Jesus calms the storm.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Prayer Requests:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Please continue to pray that we will draw near to God and find rest for our souls in this time of unknowns and transition.<\/li>\n
  • Pray for our kids that will know God\u2019s peace and will grow to love Him deeply.<\/li>\n
  • For physical healing and health, for protection from spiritual opposition in any form it may take.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cDo no call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past.\u00a0 Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.\u201d \u00a0Isaiah 43:18-19a, 21 During one of our prayer walks in Croatia last […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"Full","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[482,443,448,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-29250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"tag-croatia","8":"tag-liddell","9":"tag-liddell-family","10":"tag-update","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29253,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29250\/revisions\/29253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}